Step-by-step guide to create your time master plan!
Do you ever feel like life is slipping through your fingers? Well, we all do, and it has a scientific explanation. Time management is one way to get back in control. In this article I’ll mention why and give you a step-by-step tutorial of how I handle it.
How can time management be useful?
There is a very interesting study about why time speeds up once we are older. The answer - in short - is that we create fewer new and exciting memories hence we don’t remember our days that much. You can see the whole article here:
https://invertedpassion.com/why-time-seems-to-pass-faster-as-we-age/
Other than getting ourselves to start meaningful stuff, time management also helps with:
1. Keep in mind what we want to do
Our short-term memory is only able to keep 7 +/- 2 items. Once your attention is divided you will most likely forget what you wanted to do.
Like my grandmother always says:
“If your brain is short, keep a pencil with you”
2. Avoid procrastination
When faced with many tasks without clear priorities, we often end up postponing everything, ultimately completing nothing.
3. Stress management
For me, time management is one of the most effective ways to handle stress. The first step is to admit that we have a limit; we simply can’t finish everything right now.
With time management we can:
Avoid workload paralysis; select what you want to do in the next days and plan everything else for later
Clear our head; writing things down effectively stops them from keep coming back to our mind
Building a habit may take some months, but the good news is that using time management practices can help you a lot even if you only use them occasionally.
So, how do I do this?
Getting Things Done (GTD®)
I will not explain the system in this article, you can find all the resources you may need in their website: https://gettingthingsdone.com/
One video shortly (~7 minutes) capturing the essentials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCswMsONkwY
Asana + Google Calendar
I use Asana since 2016, it’s a work management tool, free for personal use. (But of course if you have another tool (e.g. Trello) you can use that too).
I have two workspaces because I don’t like to mix work and personal tasks:
Me: for my personal life
Company name: my personal To Do for my delivery manager work
In work we usually use JIRA which I find too heavy for everyday usage.
I track there my goals which needs to be visible, and use Asana for my personal reminders, recurring tasks, quick ideas, etc.
Let’s start with a summary, then I will guide you through the process in detail.
Summary of the steps
Write everything down from your head until it’s empty
Move them to the right category:
If it’s not an action item -> save or trash
Idea, not now -> Later
Someone else can do it -> Delegate
One-step action -> Actions + set a date (recurrence too if it’s useful)
More-step action / needs planning -> Projects + create at least the first step with a date
Create a new project called “Getting Things Done”
Blank project
Default view: List
You can customize it as you wish, I have the following suggestions:
Set the filter to “incomplete tasks” → tasks disappear if you tick them Done. It will be great later, because you can filter for ‘Completed tasks’ to see how many things you have already achieved!
Having the motivation is important, especially in cloudy daysYou can order tasks by deadline
! Save view (at the right side) to keep the changes
Add the following sections:
What’s in mind? (optional, you can just collect on the top): this is where you will empty your head out
Actions: things you need to do
Projects: things you need to do taking more step
Delegate: things you need someone else to do
Later - or not: things you may want to do / think about later
After the project is created, I do something similar to the official process:
1. What’s in mind?
Sit down, stare into the abyss (but not until it stares back at you), and write EVERYTHING out of your mind into new tasks:
Take your time
Don’t filter anything; if you have a picture of a unicorn that keeps coming back to your mind -> write it down too! There must be a reason why it’s there
At the end your mind should be completely empty and calm
I like to do this exercise before I go to sleep. If you have never done it, or much time has passed since, prepare that you will have A LOT OF tasks. The more frequently you do this, the less things will accumulate in your head.
You will be surprised how many things are going on in your head
2. Sort things through
If it’s not an action item, you just need to categorize it and you’re done!
Save it as a reference (bookmark, add to Drive, etc.) ✔️
Trash if it’s something useless️️ ✔️
-> “Later” if it keeps coming backPut in the “Later” section️ (✔️for now)
-> think about it later
If it’s an action item:
The MOST important step: if you can do it in 2 minutes, DO IT NOW!
Don’t delay it anymore. ️️️️✔️️
If it’s just an idea / you don’t have time for it now
Move to “Later”
Forget about it, you can always come back later and scan this section when you have extra free time ✔️️
If you can delegate, delegate!
Super important for people like me who tend to take on a lot of stuff
Move to “Delegate”
Set a deadline when you will kindly remind the other person
Get my friend’s cheesecake recipe: I write him now (< 2 minutes), and I’m waiting for him to look for it.
If it requires only one step, but takes more than 2 minutes
(or your own magic number)
Move to “Actions”
Set a realistic deadline
Set recurrence if it helps
Pay for garage: I need to pay every month, so I set a monthly repetition:
Practice singing: I don’t have a clear plan for this, so I just aim for one day, and set “Periodically”, which means that upon competition Asana will create another task for two days later
Requires more steps / some planning to finish it
Move to “Projects”
Set a deadline only if you need to finish it until
Create at least the first step as a sub-task
Set a realistic deadline to the first step
(Optional) you can add the sub-task(s) to the project’s Action section
Motorcycle tour: during the long weekend we plan to go on a tour with my partner. This project has a deadline because we need to leave on the 27th of April. The first step is also dated, as it needs to be started soon.
Learn to play guitar: No rush with this one, so only the first step is dated.
[
](Sub-tasks created for playing guitar)
At this point, I start to realize that I have too many things to do, so I move “Vacation with my partner” to Later.
My partner agreed to do the road planning, so I move Motorcycle tour to Delegate, but keep the dates (it will be a reminder now)
After sorting everything out:
You can switch to Calendar view, and see the tasks with deadlines:
Export to your calendar
You only need to set this once
Copy the URL, and subscribe to it
I usually don’t set time to the deadlines because I like to see the tasks as all-day events, but if you want to, it is allowed in Asana.
Voilà! Now if you set deadline to a task in your GTD project, it will appear in your calendar.
3. Actually do what you planned!
Super important, otherwise you will lose motivation.
Don’t overwhelm yourself, plan longer dates if needed, you can always finish them earlier if you find the time
If you find yourself moving the tasks from day-to-day, move everything to later, and give yourself an empty week. Having a lazy time is completely ok, you need your break sometimes
Finishing less stuff consistently is much better than planning tightly and keep moving them. You will experience with time how much time you need between the tasks
Be careful with recurring tasks because they can easily overwhelm you. Use the “Periodically” option if you’re unsure that you will do them regularly
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, I’m happy to help!
